I used to be a freelance developer. I used to work for one of the biggest Russian it company. I used to be engineering manager at non and I realized that changing companies looks like dating.Every time I tried something new, it different from my past experience every time I did and didn't like certain things. Every time I learned something about myself and about my preferences and every time I made a better choice. So I started to work at freelance when I was study at university to get some money and some experience I was working with PHP and my SQL I was adopting a wordpress and Drupal templates using HTML CS S and javascript. So basically, I was kind of a full stack developer independent and was full flexible working hours. But I have to say it was mostly night hours because I would still study at university. Luckily, for me, I didn't have big projects those times because it was really hard to estimate how much time it will require for me to complete the project and how much time I need to learn something about things I didn't know. And even I had the freedom to choose technologies I want to work with. I didn't have, actually, I didn't have time to learn them because of my education.

And also I've been primary working on the small websites building on top of existing content management systems, like wordpress and Drupal. So I didn't actually have this freedom. Um If I look back, I want to be honest, I didn't like uh freelance. I didn't count on freelance as my future full time job because I felt like really important part of my life. Um Earning's prediction is actually beyond my control. I didn't know will I have any projects or not? I didn't know how much time it will take. I didn't know how much money can I make out of them. So I wanted to work for a company. I wanted to have some confidence and ST like stability. Also, I didn't have anyone to cover my back if I'm sick or want to go on vacation. And also I didn't have anyone to learn from everything I learned those times was just by Googling. So I was kind of open to start. Uh my journey with the company, the first company I joined was a travel agency. Really small one. We were just two engineers working with the same technologist and PHP in my SQL. Basically, it was super close to freelance experience. We've been adding some new models for existing websites like search models, for example, for travel agency and just the world existing website. Nothing more, nothing special.

So I decided to make my next move. The next stop was on uh web studio. We were six second engineers uh building our own content management system similar to what Wordpress and Drupal and also implementing and building websites for customers using the C MS. I like this journey to be honest because I al I also did learn many things about how to build scalable applications and reusable ones, also how to build some frameworks and libraries. But the scale was still not that big as I wanted. Also, I wanted to have some customer impact. So to be able to see that people actually using what I'm building and enjoying it. So the next step was publishing house those times, they had six, as far as I remember six web services projects uh about beauty health education and some others. And uh I've been working with a team of three engineers uh also evolving the existing system but also agent some new features. One of the things I build, there was uh direct messages like internal message mess messaging system between registered users. So um that was something where I first of 1st, 1st time of my life designed something from the beginning and implemented. And another thing which I really like, you can see it on the screen right now, this fluffy animated emojis. So people really love them.

And I finally felt really connected to what I was doing and finally saw my impact. But I wanted something more challengeable, more and bigger and more people to work with more, more complex. So I got in contact with the recruitment team of one of the biggest Russian internet portals. It was so interesting to get this job. I really wanted it and also it was prestigious. I cannot lie about this. I prepared really hard to get this job. I was reading about databases. I was solving some puzzles. I was learning about transactions and I was learning the escrow synthesis or I got to the offer to the office for, for the interview. And my future manager showed me the office and was so different from what I used to see in what I used to work in is basically few floor buildings full of the people with kind of half open space and big rooms where people were sitting together, they had meeting rooms, kitchens with some snacks and many many many many people around many engineers actually.

So obviously, once I got an offer, I accepted it and joined the company, I joined the company as full time intern because I was still studying, I was in the last year at university. So I was finishing my thesis and diploma um and I joined the mining department. So I've been working with people who are into payments, money and money movement. Thanks to my manager those times, I was able to combine my full time work with education. Uh Anytime I needed to go for lessons or to meet with my professors at university, I was able to do it even during work hours. Basically, I arrive at the office around seven ami left office around 11 pm. Just because outside of working hours I was studying and I spent there 4.5 4.5 years working together with a team of professionals. You know, we use Jira as task taking systems. We had G I, we even had code reviews that was so different from freelance experience for sure. And uh I, I was building the anti fraud system, the project I'm still really proud of. And eventually I got promotion to a senior lead engineer in the team, but I didn't get any salary increase. So I was quite disappointed. Also, our team didn't have any new upcoming projects to work on, like to design and build from scratch. We were at the stage when we evolve in and maintain existing services.

So I decided to look at the market, to be honest, I didn't work hard to find a new position to a new job for me. I updated my CEO on the local job site and um I was just reviewing messages. One company caught my attention. I don't even remember why, but they were offering some kind of engineering manager role. I have to say in Russia, there was no such thing as engineering manager for example, in Uber and um looking back at my experience, I would say it was a combination of engineering, a manager and technical lead. So I've been interviewing and hiring people building and growing the team. I've been talking to customers understanding their needs uh making high level design architecture, but they didn't write any code. It took me some time to decide whether I want to join this company or not because from one side, I had this amazing, famous prestigious company with so many smart people working there uh with a great office, like we had our own gym, vitamin bar and private parking, nice events.

Um From another side, there was a company where I can build my new skill set and try myself as a manager and learn something new. But I also get some salary increase as far as I remember, it was like 1.5 salary increase. So it was pretty huge, but it was a non tech company. It was a small enough company. It took me like two weeks to decide. But eventually I made my move. And when I joined the company, the first challenge I faced I was the youngest person in the team. So basically every engineer and stayed the same later, every engineer were older than me and our customer Minister of Finance of Russia. They were like 23 times older than me. So it took me quite some time to prove my expertise and find the best way to work with them because they were not our end users, they were just customers. Um I grew the team up to five be engineers to front end Q A develop system analytic project managers. So that's something really significant in my career. And one of the things I'm also really proud of is mentorship. There have been two engineers who joined uh who switched their jobs basically and the authorities, one of them was uh working for gas company in Russia, nothing to do with it. And another one was electrician and both of them grew professionally really fast.

And as evidence, 23 years later, they both worked for Yandex, this another big three it company in Russia. Unfortunately, company didn't have any plans for future expansion of development side. Basically. Uh primary focus of the company was to integrate existing security system solutions for external customers.

And um we didn't have too much things to build. Plus we also didn't have our ability to choose technologies to work with because we were building services for state owned companies. And there are certain limitations on which like databases, languages can you use. We also are not able to compete with big three it for developers on salaries on perks, um which company could offer. And last but not least I wanted to move to Europe. So I chose Netherlands because of many reasons. One of them is uh English as a living and working language. Also, people were really nice here, like work hard play, hard uh salaries. I was also considered in Germany and Austria, but it was easier to get job here and it's better paid than 30% ruling for this. Uh And also I didn't need to know German. Like many companies. Actually in Germany. Also, I requested this skill. Um When I was preparing for interview, I got in contact with many, many recruitment teams uh in house and external. I was trying to find the best place for me. So I was researching about companies. Uh During the interview, I asked them about culture and general work and projects which they will have in the near future. Um I remember there was quite a lot actually companies in Amsterdam who uh who was looking for engineers with specific language knowledge.

Um I remember one interview when I told you like, I don't know scala that well to answer your questions or if you're looking for someone with such deep knowledge, we better just stop and save some time in other companies. I didn't like people which I was talking to and which I was supposed to work with. So there was not much and one of the company who had open position was Uber, Uber. Uh Those times had payment, I guess, payments, software engineer position, which was always marched with my past experience and MC three it and fun fact, Uber website didn't allow me to submit applications without VPN. OK. I went to room and I came to the hardest interview process ever in my life. So we had three or four phone calls with the recruitment team. I had telephone phone screen um on the architecture and coding site was two engineers. I had six on site interviews, like two coding to architecture and two behavioral also on two engineers each. Uh Basically, I flew from Moscow to Amsterdam just for one day to attend the six interviews and I felt so much exhausted at the end of the day, but I didn't really like people. It's like everyone was super nice, friendly and helpful.

So I felt really connected to them and that was one of the reasons why I chose Uber. Actually, I had two similar offers in Amsterdam and I made my choice because of the people. If I look back, Uber is very different from any other company I used to work. It's a big international company with a clear focus on technologies. I'm working right now with the smartest engineers I have ever seen in my life. We have an access, the most powerful technologies, we are able to make a huge customer impact. But from another side, we are working hard. We are trying in 24 hours, seven days in a week and we are on call for them. So sometimes we need to wake up during the night and fix or mitigate the issues. But that's the price we are paying for being able to make customer impact. Um Yes, I guess I found what I was looking for like four years ago. Um Stability, great company, great engineers, really great friends, uh ability to make customer impact, ability to change teams, to work in different careers, ability to try different skills and technologies and also good benefits. Why not? It's quite important. I, I've been trying different years, companies uh roles that all make me better engineer, but most important it helped me better understand what can make me swipe right on my future role. I have kind of checklist right now.

So if I feel like I need a change, I start to look at the market uh consider different companies. Maybe they have something interesting for me like technologies, project role arrears. No, anything. I also try out many new things. How else can I learn something last? But not least, maybe even most important. I took a time to interview company when I'm on my interviews to get know better people and the culture and the company. It's not a tinder, but it should be much. Thanks everyone for welcoming me through my journey and let's keep in touch.